Friday, November 9, 2012

When fans email about the new products they want to see from us, we pay attention. We have had requests for some sort of "play" dough and we were hesitant at first because there really so many great products out there and what could we do that would be unique and follow all of the standards that we keep at Wee Can Too®. Therefore, we came up with a wheat free, dairy free, preservative and chemical free dough that we like to call, "Veggie Dough". Like all of our products, we are keeping chemical colors out of the equation! Add a little cinnamon essential oils, and throw in some mica pigments for some sparkle and you have a great "play" dough that everyone can have fun with this season!

We are testing out the market and offering this for the Holiday season in a special art kit which comes with Veggie Tempera and Veggie Crayons as well. These will be added to our website soon www.weecantooart.com and they make GREAT gifts, just in time for the Holidays. We offer the red and green kit along with a fun blue and yellow kit as well depending on your celebratory preference. Happy Holidays!!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

My dear children are such sports when it comes to their mama being a mad scientist of art supplies. I have become successful with developing facepaints as an alternative to many products on the market that come from unreliable resources and can be quite bad. Some facepaints, even marked "non-toxic" can have lead in them, and being applied to the face in copious amounts never made me feel at ease.
Our facepaints are made with the same organic ingredients including fruit and vegetable powders for color, which could actually be good for the skin! My daughter started painting her brother's arm at one point and I felt just fine about that!

If you choose to purchase these from our online store, keep in mind that instead of mixing them all at one time, I recommend using just enough powder as you want for application at that time. If you use moderately like this, you will have paints for next year as well! Another perk: You won't be scrubbing the paints off and chaffing your child's skin at the same time, all while explaining to teachers why your child still has whiskers the next day at school. Our paints wipe off with ease and don't leave stains.
You can purchase our wonderfully natural products at:
www.weecantooart.com
If you are in the UK, we will be expanding our availability overseas very soon!
That website will be: www.weecantooart.uk.com
"Art From The Start!"

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Wee Can Too has come out with a great natural egg dyeing kit, "Nature's Magic Egg", which I encourage parents to use instead of the yucky chemical dyes, especially since these will most definitely be going in your child's mouth if they are serious egg eaters like my kids. I think I can safely say everyone here knows how to dye an egg. If not, we provide instructions on the box. :) I wanted to get extra creative today because the weather was soooo bad (Spring in Eugene). I got out my Wee Can Too Veggie Crayons and made this fantastically fun activity with my two kids, Delta and Savannah. Here is a "how to" for extra special eggs for Springtime or Easter! Have fun...First use the largest size on your cheese grater and grate some of your Wee Can Too Veggie Crayon into small pieces. Leave the rest for drawing on your egg. This can get kinda messy with the kids, so I put mine into separate cups.Next, boil your eggs as you normally would and when hardboiled, remove with a slotted spoon and rest on the egg carton. Immediately start your decorating of eggs. Let the kids pick the colors and sprinkle a rainbow of decor on your warm eggs. Make sure the kids don't touch or pick up the egg, as they still are hot. It's important to supervise this part. My egg was initially to hot to draw on, the crayon kept dripping down, so I held the egg under cold water until it was the right temperature to draw with my crayon. After the decorating is done, set aside and let dry for at least 45 min. They will harden before then. And what do you do until then you ask? Well, I used the extra crayon shavings to sprinkle on paper and then warm in the oven at a low temperature. My daughter had a blast with this and created some wonderful works of art!!Not only did we have a blast doing this, but we have some gorgeous eggs to admire...as long as they don't get eaten. I hope you have a chance to try this at home. Have fun & Happy Easter!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Wee Can Too has a great press page and has been subject to many reviews and articles. So as the creator of "edible art supplies", we are subject to the pro's and con's of what people might have an opinion about. It seems that parents are REALLY into the "non-toxic" concept of art supplies, vs. "edible" concept. Not all parent's, but some. Which is why this is the topic of today's blog.

Our belief is that ALL baby, toddler art supplies should be not only non-toxic, but let's take it further and make it safe to swallow or ingest, because honestly, that is bound to happen. We have said it a million times, "Crayola is a FANTASTIC product" along with more and more products emerging as safe options for parents and children to feel comfortable about. Well we go deeper and beyond that concept. Wee Can Too is about safety for our baby artists and also peace of mind for parents. Parents get the wrong idea about our company, thinking that "edible art supplies are saying it's okay for children to be eating chalk, crayons, paint, etc." We do not promote the consumption of our product and that is not what the "edible" concept is about. It is to show you that not only are we non-toxic, we are eat-a-ble!

So will it train our children to eat their art supplies? A friend of mine shared a story with me that I had the same experience with while my own children were raised with our art supplies. She said that her one year old daughter would eat crayons (don't even get me started on how gross paraffin wax is...petroleum anyone?) and she would react with, "NO! ICKY!!", and eventually her daughter started eating them and then looking for a reaction from mom. When she started using my crayons, my friend didn't feel the need to say, "YUCK, NO!", she simply let her suck on the crayon. By getting a null reaction from mom, baby eventually stopped putting them in her mouth. We don't have animals for babies. Children use thoughts and make calculated decisions. My children did not enter pre-school eating art supplies.

As parents, with babies, we need to go beyond just being non-toxic, we have seen the non-toxic standard tests and let us tell you, use your own judgement, research and read ingredients. Don't trust a non-toxic label. Thanks for listening and thanks for caring! Art from the start!! (baby artist top right is Brooke, Wee Can Too fan)